Jay Rockefeller

West Virginia’s two major-party candidates for the U.S. Senate support raising the Social Security wage base limit from its current level of $117,000, and in an Oct. 7 debate both voiced concern over the long-term financing of the program. “I am supportive of raising the cap to $240,000” or in that vicinity, said West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, a Democrat. “I would be willing to raise the cap over $200,000,” said U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, her Republican opponent. …

Even the exit of a crop of senators born before World War II doesn’t seem to be having much effect on the average age in the U.S. Senate, the Washington Post reports. That’s because the freshmen arriving in recent years haven’t exactly been dewy-faced youngsters. (Example: 68-year-old Angus King, a Maine independent.) Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, 78, last week became the fourth senator age 70 and older to announce he’ll retire instead of running for reelection next year. The other …